Cyprian

In his own words on Sirach

• Sirach 27:5

  After shipwrecks, after scourgings, after many and terrible tortures of the flesh and body, the apostle Paul says that he is not hurt but benefited by his adversity because through such terrible affliction he might more truly be proved. "There was given to me," he says, "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be lifted up. I sought the Lord three times about this so that it might leave me; and he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is made perfect in weakness." When, therefore, weakness and inefficiency and any destruction seize us, then our strength is made perfect. Then, if our faith is put to the test, it will stand fast and receive a crown, as it is written: "The furnace tries the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation tests just people." This, in short, is the difference between us and others who do not know God, that in misfortune they complain and murmur, while adversity does not call us away from the truth of virtue and faith but strengthens us by its suffering.

  Treatise VII. On the Mortality 13